Aspen Discovery 21.14.00 Release Notes

by Mark Noble on Nov 10, 2021

Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 21.14.00 release is now available. See the Release Summary here.

Mark Noble, Aspen Discovery Lead Developer, recently commented on the release:

We're delighted to have Aspen LiDA available to library patrons in both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store with this release. Aspen LiDA lets patrons find and use physical materials and eContent from their library in an easy to use new interface. Our libraries are very excited to have Aspen LiDA available to their patrons as a complement to Aspen Discovery"

Aspen LiDA App Updates (21.13.03)

• Hoopla items are available for patrons to check out inside the app
• In addition to placing holds on OverDrive items, patrons can now check them
• Axis 360 and cloudLibrary items are available to place holds on and check out
• Side loaded content is available in the app
• Added framework for localizing the text that is hardcoded into the app
• Updated when and what alert dialogs, banners, and toasts are used to provide information on an action (i.e. place hold) or app process (i.e. server connection failed)
• Updated app icons and logos for LiDA branding
• To prevent issues with data loading in the background, the login screen will now simply ask a user to select their library and then display the username/password inputs after a library has been selected
• The library favicon now displays next to the library in the "Select Your Library" modal
• Renamed "Find Nearby Libraries" button on the Login screen to "Reset Geolocation" to clarify the purpose
• Redesigned and updated to show all browse categories (including sub categories) in horizontal scrolling lists instead of forcing the user to select a list from a menu
• All the formats for a grouped work are now displayed on the screen instead of being in a modal
• Language variations in a grouped work are now displayed
• Placing a hold or checkout out an item now works as a matching system. The user must select a format and a language (the first option of each is always selected by default) and will then be given a list of items from the grouped work that match the selections. If no match is found, it will simply display an unavailable combination message with the values selected.
• Using the "Access Online" button with side loaded content opens the resource to give the user immediate access
• If at least 1 user rating exists, the average user rating will be displayed
• When placing a hold on OverDrive, the user will be prompted with a modal to provide an email address for notifications if needed
• The Account Summary will now highlight the count of overdue and holds ready for pickup
• The Account Summary, the user's total checkouts and holds are now grouped up similar to Aspen
• The pickup location for holds on library items can now be updated
• Holds can now be frozen/thawed and canceled; freezing currently defaults to 30 days
• Overdue items have a badge next to the title displaying their status
• eContent can now be returned
• Ready for Pickup or Frozen items have a badge next to the title displaying their status
• Item actions have been moved and are now accessed by tapping on the item
• Users can force reload of checkouts or holds by pulling down on the list of items (the loading spinner will display)
• eContent can now be opened and accessed within the app (OverDrive, Axis 360 and cloudLibrary)
• Format badges in search results will now properly wrap instead of going offscreen
• The "Email a Librarian" button on Contact screen will now look for the contactEmail from the location/branch with a backup of the library setting. If neither is provided, the button will not populate
• Added "Get Directions" button on Contact screen that will open up the user's preferred Map app and provide directions to the location/branch. This is based off the geolocation coordinates provided by the address in Aspen settings. If the user has opted to share their geolocation data, it will use this to determine the starting location.
• Today's Hours will check the showInLocationsAndHoursList setting to determine if it should display or not
• "Visit Our Website" button will try to get a valid URL before displaying from either the Location or Library
• Added access to LiDA's privacy policy in the "More" menu
• The digital library card will look at libraryCardBarcodeStyle to display the correct barcode style
• The Search Results screen now has an "infinite scroll" feature to provide more than the first 100 results
• Fixed a bug that prevented the password input on the Login screen from being accessible while the keyboard was displayed in iOS
• Fixed a bug that would cause the Login screen to crash and reset when tapping the "Next" button while in the username/barcode input

Indexing Updates

• Performance updates during indexing.

OverDrive Updates

• Optimize updates from OverDrive to reduce memory usage and speed up determining which products have been deleted.

Polaris Updates

• Correct count of physical material to not include eContent within the account summary.
• Updates to volume level hold functionality.

Sierra Updates

• Increase the speed of extracting data from Sierra using the APIs.

Symphony Updates

• Allow translation of hold request responses from Symphony.

System Updates

• Allow database updates to be performed via API.
• Add checking for if database updates have been run to the Aspen status page.
• Add checking for if encryption key has been created to the Aspen status page.
• Add checking for if the nightly index is running after 8am to the Aspen status page.

Other Changes

• If a title is available, hide the number of holds.
• Moved the button to dismiss placards to the top right to fit the typical UI design pattern.
• Added the option to have a "Top of Page" button in Layout Settings.
• Updated placards to be wrapped by a section container to ensure accessibility compliance.
• Citation styles will now display the style guide version.
• Update default allowable HTML tags to include all the functions in TinyMCE.
• Added materialRequestLink to containers for public-facing use of Materials Request.
• Added option to hide Materials Request on patron side, while keeping the module active in Administration.
• Update Bad Words list for filtering content of reviews.
• For WebBuilder pages, add the page id to the body tag.
• Updated the allowable HTML tags in placards, system messages, location header text, library system message, and library header text.
• Do not show Quick Copy view for eContent.
• Indicate what fields cause a nightly index to be run within the Admin interface.
• Allow indexing more that 2500 web pages.
• Optionally allow logging of API calls to external systems for better diagnosing issues.
• Monitoring enhancements.
• Added a function to automatically open a panel and navigate to it, if a matching id is found in the URL.

Watch the 21.14 Aspen Updates in an Instant Recording

Watch a short highlight video of the some of the new features available in 21.14.